to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another
the distinguishing of spirits ” (1 Cor 12: 9, 10)

To distinguish spirits means to determine who is from God and who is not from God, especially in regards to religious teachers. For example, John told us to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1).

John said, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1).

In putting religious teachers to the test, it all starts with you. Do you believe everyone of them? Are you wise or naive about them? Naive people are unsuspecting, gullible, and believe things they should not. As the wisdom of Solomon has said: “The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps. A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is arrogant and careless.” (Prov 14:15, 16) But God’s word has a goal and objective: “To give prudence to the naive.” (Prov 1:4) Just like Solomon wanted his listeners to be the opposite of naive--wise, John wanted the same for his listeners, for them to be wise, prudent, careful, and sensible about whom they believe, listen to, and follow; whom they turn towards and whom they turn away from. A naive person does not test, validate, or prove what he hears. But a wise person will test or: “examine everything carefully...” (1 Thess 5:21) God expects us to test or prove all things.

For this reason we must put teachers to the test: “... because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 Jn 4:1) And since many in this world are teaching falsely about God and His word, they are bearing false witness. Therefore we must not believe many teachers. Instead we must test the multitude of teachers that we are faced with in order to determine what kind of spirit they have. God wants us to be able to tell the difference between: “... the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 Jn 4:6) There is a spirit of truthful teaching and a spirit of erring teaching in the religious world. We must have an ability to conclude and decide whether or not the religious teachers that we hear, whether we go to them or they come to us, are true or false-- from God or from the world. To become wiser, consider these naive questions about false teachers.

Jesus said, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many” (Mt 24:11). So we must conclude that many religious people today are deceived by many false teachers.

Jesus said, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Mt 7:15). On the surface they look okay. You cannot detect them without fully testing their inner spirit to see if it is ravenous/destructive or serving their own selfish appetites.

Jesus said, “for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect” (Mk 13:22). Erring teachers use their talents to lead people away from the truth, even the saved.

Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way” (Lk 6:26). They are men-pleasers and ear itchers. As a true teacher, Jesus was speaking from experience. For all men did not speak well of Him. In fact we know that some terribly persecuted Him to death.

Peter said, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies” (2 Pe 2:1). Therefore you have to be on your guard from without and from within your church. You must test the teachers that are within your church.

Jesus said, “Let them alone [the Pharisees]; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Mt 15:14). If Jesus warned His disciples to avoid a certain sect/party, the Pharisees, should we be surprised if we need to let some sects alone? If not, we will certainly fall into a pit with them. Who we join/follow will make an eternal difference.

Before she concluded that Solomon had the wisdom that others claimed he had, she first tested him (1 Ki 10:1, 6, 7). You must do the same with those whom you permit, regard, and accept to lead and teach you about God and His word. “Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions” (1 Ki 10:1). After Solomon thoroughly and satisfactorily answered her questions, and after she considered the evidence, the queen said, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard” (1 Ki 10:6, 7). The queen of Sheba did not believe every report that she heard. She was not naive. Instead she had the wisdom to test even this mighty man of God to determine if the claims about his talent and ability were true or false. She found him to be exceedingly true.

At one time, the church in Ephesus wisely tested certain persons who claimed to be special teachers sent from God, that is apostles. The word apostle basically means ‘one sent’ from God to preach and teach His word with authority. But Jesus praised this church, saying, “... you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false” (Rev 2:2). Has your church tested any teachers and found some to be false? When you find some to be false, you must cut off opportunity for them to teach you.

Paul worked to: “cut off opportunity” from those who desired to be regarded as equal to himself, a teacher and an apostle (2 Cor 11:12). He called such men: “false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants [ministers] of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds” (2 Cor 11:13-15). Like Paul, but through testing, you must cut off opportunities for false ministers of God and His word to guide and instruct you.

Simply for the fact that many are teaching God’s word falsely, you should not trust, have faith in, believe, or accept every Bible teacher, preacher, pastor, evangelist, etc., at face value. If you did, you would be considered naive, gullible, and a person that is easily misled. Instead, you must be wise, prudent, cautious and careful to thoroughly test, evaluate, prove, and scrutinize teachers in several key areas for the spirit of truth or the spirit of error. You must not place confidence in all who claim to be a religious guide or teacher of God’s word, even if they have a following, attended or finished a religious school, come from your own sect, have a degree or diploma, or a title given by men or an institution. Those types of criteria can be misleading. Jesus said to His twelve disciples, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16). You must not be naive but shrewd since there are many wolves, false teachers, in religious circles. You must not regard every teacher as faithful to God. Do not be naive and believe many teachers. Instead you must continue to grow in Godly wisdom in order to overcome them. But wisdom is not all you need. You need the Holy Spirit.

In teaching us how to detect a false teacher, John said, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them [false prophets]; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4).

Paul said, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor 13:5) Do you pass the test? Is Christ in you? How do you know for sure that He in you?

Peter said, “And we [the apostles] are witnesses of these things [about Jesus]; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Ac 5:32). So test your own obedience to God. It is obvious that the Holy Spirit refuses to live in a person who is disobedient to Him, especially someone who has not yet fully obeyed the basic teachings about His Son. For example, in another place, Peter only promised the Holy Spirit to those who obey two specific teachings about the Christ: repentance and baptism. “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Ac 2:38). So you must test your own repentance from sins that lead to death. Many of them were studied in the Basic Course on the Bible. Have you mournfully recognized, confessed, and separated from any and all of them? Then test your own baptism. Why would God give the Spirit of Truth to a person who has not yet been properly baptized in His name (Mt 28:18, 19), which includes the name of the Holy Spirit? In the right way and for the right reasons, have you yourself been obedient to God in repentance and baptism?

First and foremost, you need to thoroughly test a teacher on what they believe and confess about the person of Jesus Christ. Test them on their own confession about Jesus. Confess means to agree, consent, declare, admit, teach, or tell something to another. Now if anyone, especially a teacher, fails to believe and confess that Jesus is who He truly claimed to be, then you must understand that they shall die in sin, for Jesus said, “... for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (Jn 8:24). It is a most serious offense to fail to recognize and confess who Jesus truly is.

John said, “... test the spirits... By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 Jn 4:1, 2, 3). So first and foremost, find out if a teacher believes in his heart and confesses that Jesus Christ was here in the flesh. In other words, was Jesus Christ a real person? Was He a human being? Did he live on this earth? Or is He simply a myth?

“... test the spirits... They [false teachers] are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God” (1 Jn 4:1, 5, 6).

When John said that false teachers “speak as from the world,” he meant their teachings originate or are based on man-made traditions, commands, or viewpoints. The world’s point of view is man’s point of view, not God’s. It originates from a man’s heart and not God’s heart in heaven. Below, consider these questions and Scriptures that further define the problem and further prepare us to test teachers.

With the Old Covenant, the people were faced with the similar problem of false teachers. For example, God said, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds” (Jer 14:14). False teachings come from the mind of man, not God. So in testing teachers, you must figure out if their teachings originate from their own mind.

Below, Jesus tested some teachers on the source of John’s teaching on baptism. “And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and began saying to Him, ‘By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.’ They began reasoning among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From men’?’--they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things’ ” (Mk 11:27-33). Now we know that John’s teaching on baptism came from God because God sent him to baptize (Jn 1:33). But there are teachers who will refuse to admit and hold to the truth of things like this, and therefore they are false teachers. Can you admit where a teaching comes from? Can you tell if a teaching is simply a human tradition or a tradition of God?

Paul taught the church in Thessalonica to keep the traditions of Christ, saying, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us” (2 Thess 2:15). And who is the “us” but the apostles? In another example, Paul commended the church in Corinth for keeping the Christian traditions that he himself passed on to them, saying, “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you” (1 Cor 11:2). So, by faith, we must carefully keep the Christian traditions that were passed down to us by the apostles to receive God’s praise and acceptance, not His scorn or rejection.

Now it is obvious that there are teachers who do not hold firmly to the traditions of the apostles, but instead begin to modify, change, or replace them for the sake of their own human traditions. False teachers like to modify or replace God’s traditions with human traditions. This make God’s traditional word invalid. For example, Jesus said about some false teachers in His day: “... you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your [human] tradition... you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your [human] tradition... IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN” (Mt 15:3, 6, 9). Here they were teaching something, but it was not the traditional commandment of God. In fact, what they were teaching on certain subjects in effect canceled out the related command of God. This is not proper worship of God but vain worship. God must be worshiped according to the traditions that He by His Spirit has authorized in His word, not as our human inner spirit authorizes.

Which point of view are your teachers coming from, the world’s or God’s? When you examine a teaching, what is the source of it? Is it from the culture or from God? Is it human tradition or God’s tradition? You must know the difference between the traditions of men and the traditions of God. In order to know which teachers are false and which are true, you must carefully and thoroughly compare the teachings of men to the commands of Christ, which were given to us by our apostles (2 Pe 3:2). Are they the same? Do teachings line up with the apostles’ doctrines? It is very likely that you will have plenty of chances to determine who is a false teacher since John said, “the world listens to them.” (1 Jn 4:5) Many people will obey worldly teachings, the commands of men. False teachers will have quite a large following. Can their teachings be accurately proven, validated, or substantiated by the evidence in the New Testament? Is a teaching from the world or from heaven? You must judge and decide. You must test teachers to find out where their teaching(s) originate or come from. Find a teacher whose teachings clearly, verifiably, and substantially line up with God’s traditions, the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ, given to us by His apostles, the whole New Testament.

The third major area to test teachers on is whom they listen to, follow, and obey. To whom do your teachers listen to? Specifically, whose teachings and directives do they submit to? Is it the words of the “we” and the “us” mentioned in the verse above? If a teacher wants to be considered from God and not from the world or the antichrist, then he must demonstrate that he listens carefully to the “we” and the “us” spoken of above.

John is a part of the “we” and “us” because he, through the Holy Spirit, was the writer of the letter. Who was John? He was an apostle. Peter was an apostle, so he is part of the “us” that teachers from God listen to. Paul was an apostle, and therefore part of the “us” that teachers from God listen to.

First, it is because the apostles were appointed by God to be the highest authority in the kingdom, excepting the Lord. Therefore, a teacher is not the highest authority in the kingdom: the apostles are. “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles” (1 Cor 12:28). People that are first have the authority. Second, it is because the apostles gave or handed down to us Jesus’ commands only once but for all to follow after. “You should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles” (2 Pe 3:2). “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down” (Jude 3). Third, it is because all disciples must be devoted to learning and remembering the apostle’s doctrines. Those who believed the gospel, as proven by their faithful response of repentance and baptism, “were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Ac 2:42). The apostles’ teachings are the spirit of truth. But this teacher did not think so.

“Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say” (3 Jn 9). Here, in using “we”, John was referring to himself and his fellow apostles. So Diotrephes did not accept the apostles’ doctrine, especially in regards to the highest form of church discipline. He was abusing it. He was putting people out of the church who were not worthy to be withdrawn from. He was not even qualified to be in charge of a church, let alone be considered like an apostle. By his conduct, he was a false teacher and a hypocrite, and as John pointed out, an evil worker that was not to be imitated or followed after (3 Jn 11). Just be aware that a false teacher can be leading a church.

There are teachers who will agree and approve of the essential/basic teachings about the Christ, but they themselves have not applied the teachings on morality and adultery to themselves by separating from certain relationships or marriage unions that are simply not right (Ro 2:18-22). This can have something to do with divorce and remarriage, fornication, cohabiting or living with a member of the opposite sex, which has the appearance of evil [“Abstain from all appearance of evil” 1 Thess 5:22], perversions such as homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, etc. At the church in Thyatira, there was a woman who claimed to be a prophetess, but was found false by the Lord Jesus Himself. She was leading people astray into sexual immorality, adultery, and idolatry (Re 2:18-23). Therefore, Jesus was going to punish her with severity.

When Jesus prophesied about the Judgment Day, He indicated that He would reject certain teachers because of their failure to act on His words (Mt 7:21-27). Therefore, when testing teachers for the spirit of truth or error, obedience is the differentiator. “So then, you will know them by their fruits (Mt 7:20). That is, the fruit of obedience or disobedience. Many teachers have failed or are failing to obey the apostle’s teachings in significant basic areas of truth. Therefore, they are not from God even though they are religious teachers. You can tell the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error by testing a teacher on what he has obeyed, the apostles’ teachings or another’s? Find a teacher who has indeed obeyed the apostles’ doctrine on how to be saved. The true response to the Gospel DBR.